After a rather tumultoius beginning, there couldn't have been many in
the GM camp that would have predicted the longevity of the Corvette.
When emission and safety standards kept piling on, Corvette bobbed and
weaved from the encounters, always managing to avoid the eight-count.
Now here is was, 1978, and Corvette was celebrating it's 25th anniversary,
it's Silver Anniversary. No other passenger car marque within Chevrolet
was that old. Corvette had certainly reached a milestone.

A major body revision was in store for 1978 with an all-glass rear
window treatment replacing the flying buttress configuration of the
earlier C3's. The exterior was stunning, By wrapping the rear
window around the rear section, visibilty to the rear and the rear
quarters was improved remarkably. The glass area increased over three
fold with 1425 square inches of exposed area versus the previous designs
392. The roof panels had redesigned latches with a single release lever.
The panels were available in standard painted or an optional tinted all
glass unit.

It was what was under the skin that appealed to the Corvette faithful.
Horsepower. An availble Two-Hundred-Twenty of them. After years of decline,
performance was returning to the Vocabulary.

The tried and true 350 cubic inch V8 was still nestled under the hood,
breathing in cold air from either a single ducted snorkel on L48 engined
cars or a pair when the optional L82 was ordered up. One Federal emission
equipped cars, the L48 now produced 185hp. If you lived in Califiornia or
a designated high-altitude area, 10 horsepower was given up, netting 175.
Those areas were also excluded from receiving the RPO L82, the 220hp
version. Different cylinder heads were affixed to the L82, offering a
higher compression ratio of 8.9:1 while the L48s compression ratio was
now 8.2:1. Both of these number were down from 1977, with the L48 having
an 8.5:1 and the L82 9.0:1.

The valve sizes differed between the base and optional engines. Cylinder
heads for L48 engines were filled with 1.94" intake and 1.50" exhaust
valves, while the L82's were breathed through 2.02" and 1.60" repsectively.
Camshafts differed with the L82 having .450" of net lift and 346-degrees of
duration on the intake side and .460" of net lift and a duration of 340-degrees
on the exhaust. The base engine had .390" of lift and 280-degrees duration
intake and .410" lift and 288-degreess of duration for the exhaust. Dished
cast aluminum pistons went into the cylinder bores of the L48, while stronger
flat topped forged aluminum components with valve relief notches were used
on the L82. A cast iron crankshaft spun in the L48, while a forged steel
unit was contained in the four bolt main bearing block of the L82.

Chevrolet tried to improve the feel of the 185hp 350 when equipped with
a manual transmission by enabling it with a 2.85:1 first gear ratio, versus
a 2.64 with the 220hp version. The 2.85:1 ratio transmission was sourced
from Muncie, but was not the famed "Rock Crusher" used in Corvettes of the
past. A Borg Warner T-10 backed the L82. This launch feel was exclusive to
the Federal emission cars as Californian and High Altitide designated cars
were forced to buy automatics. The close ratio Borg-Warner T10 with a 2.43:1
first gear was available only with the L82. The L82 also received an 11-inch
clutch while a 10.4-inch unit came with the L48. On L82 equipped automatic
cars, a torque converter with less internal inertia was used to improve the
launch feel.

Corvette tires went away from the traditional letter rating system to
the new P-Metric sizing. No nonger would there be F70-15s, or GR70-15
sized tires. The 1978 Corvette rolled on P225/70R-15 steel belted radial
tires. Decoding the designation was fairly simple; the P meant passenger
car, the 225, this indicated the section width (not the tread width) of the
tire was 225 millimeters wide. The next number, 70 represented the aspect
ratio of the tire which was 70, which meant the height of the tire was
70-percent of the section width, the R meant the tire belt plies were
arranged radially, rather than diagonally on a typical bias ply tire.
Finally the 15 was the wheel diameter in inches. The new tires The tires
were available in either blackwall ora bold, raised white letter style,
which was available for only $51.00.

An optional tire size, the first time offered on a Corvette was added
for the 1978 model year. The tires were Goodyear's new Eagle GT, a
premium tire with belts mades from manmade "Aramid" fibers. These fibers
were stonger, lighter, and more compliant than the steel belts found
in the base tires. The tires were also wider and lower being offered in
P255/60R-15 sizes. Stylistically, the tires had "outline" white letters
rather than the solid blocks found on other white letter tires. In a
case of seeming bad communications, the front fenders had to be trimmed
at the factory for clearance of the wider tires.

Inside the '78 version, a new instrument panel and dashboard greeted
those who entered. The instruments took on a modular gauge appearance,
much like was being fitted to aircraft. It seemed the IP was made up of
individual components, but in actuallity, the gauge fact was a large
one piece fascia. The big improvement over the previous design was that the
gauges were now serviced from the front. All the IPs were black rather
than interior color. The windshield wiper switch was moved from the
turn signal stalk to the instrument panel and an intermittent feature
was added to the wipe cycle when the optional ZX2 Conventince Group
was ordered. If RPO K30 cruise contol was ordered, the operation
button was now at the end of the turn signal stalk, common to other GM
products, rather than on the end of the the tilt wheel lever. An
AM/FM stereo ratio with a 40-channel CB radio was offered but could
not be combined with the popular and less costly 8-track tape player.
Only 7,138 owners opted for the $638.00 CB unit while nearly half of
the buyers liked the idea of the 8-track with 20,899 chosing the
$419.00 tape playing sound system.

The top cover of the dashpads were all finished in a zero gloss black
and the mask line at the base of the windshield was extended to cover
the windshield wipers fron the sight line when parked. A glove box was
added to the passenger side dash, replacing the vinyl elastic pouch used for
storage on Corvettes previously.

At the rear of the interior was a cavernous bay, opened up with the
addition of the huge rear backlight. The storage area was fully carpeted
and retained the storage bays behind the rear seats. The luggage area
had a clever way of concealing the contents from prying eyes with a
black fabric cover that rolled up into invisibility at the rear
of the bay and hooked into the trim panels behind the rear seats when
in use. Chevrolet accessories also marketed custom luggage, specifically
made to fill the storage area. Even though the luggage space only grew
from 7.8 to 8.4 cubic feet, the visual impression was much greater.

The seating on the base Corvette was relatively unchanged from the
1977 version. One big change was the seat belt design. Last year belts
were of a two piece design with spool retractors in the floor and
conealed in the area directly behind the seats. The new belts were a
of a single belt with a sliding buckle. The mount to the floor was
fixed with the retractor concealed in the B-pillar. The door panels
were redeigned with bolt on door pulls and armrests replacing the
molded in pieces of all other thrid generation Corvettes. Power door
locks were available for the first time with the switches located in
the door panels.

The rear transverse leaf spring was a quarter inch wider in 1978, now
at 2.5 inches wide. This was done to reduce the stress on the spring
brought about by the new, larger 24 gallon fuel tank which replaced the
17 gallon tank. The new tank had a steel outer shell with a pliable
polyethylane liner within. The new tank made servicing the fuel sending
unit simpler as servicing could now be done without removing the fuel
tank. The new tank had 41% greater capacity incresasing the cruising
range of the car. To make room for the new tank, the full size spare
tire was replaced with a compact high pressure spare. The spare was
a narrow P195/80D-15 bias ply unit mounted on a five inch wide steel
spare wheel.

Once again, the RPO FE7 Gymkhana Suspension was offered. Unique to the
option was a 1.125 inch front stabilizer bar which replaced the standard
1.0 inch bar. At the rear, a .443 rear inch bar was added, where on base
suspended cars there was none. Front and rear spring rates were raised
and the shock absorbers received revised valveing for tighter control. A
pair of wheels were on the option list, the standard argent painted
15 x 8 steel rally wheels with bright center caps and trim rings. Optional
were the RPO YJ8 cast aluminum wheels in a natural finish.

Technically, all 1978 Corvette were silver anniversary models. All has
had the most elaborate emblems ever seen on a corvette. The new emblem was
still circular, but had a three dimensional starburst look, proudly
proclaiming it's 25th Anniversary. When compared to later Anniversary
editions, the other come off quite lame in the visual appeal.

Chevrolet offered a Silver Anniversary Paint option as RPO B2Z. The
option consisted of a silver over dark gray paint treatment using the
natural detail lines as the paint breaks. The two colors were seperated
by a tape stripe. 15,283 buyers opted for this stiking package at a cost
of $399.00 however RPO YJ8 Cast Aluminum wheels and D35 body color sport
mirrors were required at a cost of $340.00 and $40.00 respectively. The
paint treatment was available with all interior colors.

The Chevrolet Corvette was chosen to pace the Indianapolis 500 in 1978
so a very specially trimed model was produced. Titled "Limited Edition",
the pace car was given a striking black over silver paint treatment that
mirrored the Silver Anniversary Paint's style. Origionally the build
quantity was supposed to be around 2,500 however reaction from dealers
and the posibilities of legal actions stemming from a dealer who did
not receive one of these special automobiles meant production was raised
to 6.503, making sure that every franchised Chevy dealer could get one.
A feature that didn't make it to the assembly line were special
"Corvette" labeled tires from Goodyear. A bit of trivia concerning
the actual pace car was that this was the first time a car paced the
Indy 500 since the early '70s without the need for any performance
enhancements.

The Pace Car Corvettes received most of the optional equipment as
standard. The aluminum wheels were presented in a bright mirror
polished finish and had a red stripe along the outer edge. The
P255/60R-15 Goodyear Eagle Gt tires were included and the tinted glass
t-tops were mirrored. A front spoiler with molded front wheel deflectors
was used and at the rear there was a wrapover rear spoiler. Body color
sport mirrors completed the exteriors visual appeal.

Inside the Pace Car were a pair of seats unique to the Limited Edition
model. The contoured bucket seats had a deeply sculpted lower cushion
with a similarly bolsted back rest that coult fold nearly flat on the right
side. The interior was finished in a unique silver hue with a specific
heavier weight carpet. Power windows and door locks, a tilt and telescopic
steering column, the 8-track tape sound system, and an elctric rear window
defogger were also included. The list price jumped over $4000.00 compared
to the base Corvette at $13,653.21. When these cars were new, speculators,
collectors, and greedy dealers raised the selling price as much as $10,000
over the list price in some cases. Many of these cars that were purchased
by collectors still rest in storage with only the delivery miles on the
cars.

1978 was a very exciting year for Corvette with a new look, new found
performance, a Pace Car for the Indy 500, and the celebration of 25 years
of Corvettes all occuring in the same year.